Been building AI tooling for private label sellers and noticed a pattern: everyone obsesses over PPC before their listing can even convert traffic.

Here's the order that actually moves revenue:

1. Product-market fit first. If a product doesn't have a real demand gap (low competition + healthy search volume), no amount of ad spend fixes it. Reverse-engineer a category with real ASIN + keyword data before you commit inventory dollars.

2. Listing conversion second. Your images and copy need to close the sale once someone lands on the page. Most listings lose buyers in the first 3 bullet points — that's fixable in an afternoon.

3. PPC last. Ads amplify what's already working. Pouring budget into a listing that converts at 5% instead of 12% is just burning cash faster.

Most sellers do this backwards because PPC feels like "doing something" and research feels slow. But research is the highest-leverage hour you'll spend all month.

Curious what others here are using for product research — happy to compare notes.